Resources

The author explores the lessons learnt from the information communication technologies for development (ICT4D) paradigm shift to Web2forDev. ICT4D helped to mainstream ICTs in to development thinking and highlight issues of access and connectivity in the developing world. Whilst ICT4D was mostly driven by technology hype and a narrow approach to how we use the tools, Web 2.00 has a stronger focus on social and decentralised networking. However, key issues remain: access, connectivity, capacity-building, literacy and language. The author argues the need to holistically appropriate, adapt and integrate these technologies in our work.

This book presents the role of communication in 8 case studies of natural resource management situations in developing countries. The case studies included are: Community based natural resource management in Namibia; Pastoralist communication in Kenya; Indigenous forest management in Cambodia; Recovering from conflict in Vietnam; Internet radio in Sri Lanka; Regional networking in Nicaragua and Costa Rica; Creating local organic markets in Turkey; Environmental education and Communication in El Salvador. It is designed as a learning tool and each case-study has specific learning objectives for the reader focussed around different aspects of communication in natural resource management. Questions are posed as every case-study develops serving as a base of discussion and inviting the reader to reflective thinking and drawing their own conclusions.

This note describes the use of force-field analysis, a technique originally used to analyze the forces which keep an institution in its present state. It was used in a modified form in two projects - a non-formal education project in Bangladesh and an urban environmental project in India - to provide a way of drawing staff and stakeholders into the planning process, defining possible objectives and how to attain them. It was found to be a useful way of involving different people in the analysis of objectives and how they can be achieved.

The majority of the evaluations looking at community participation in social funds (SFs) have tended to generalise about the nature of community participation. As a result, there does not appear to be an adequate analysis of the participatory process itself to assess the depth and scope of community participation and whether such participation can generate the benefits associated with the new approach. This paper attempts to contribute to this existing knowledge gap by analysing the nature and type of community participation in three Social Fund projects from Mangochi district of southern Malawi. The paper examines the concept of and different levels of community participation (from passive participation to self-mobilisation), and community participation in social funds worldwide. Community participation in three case studies from the Malawi Social Action Fund (MASAF) are analysed. The case studies included the Chilipa Community Day Secondary School, the Ngao School for orphans, and a construction of a road linking Mbaluku and Nalikolo under the MASAF Public Works Programme. The author examines community participation in practice of needs assessment and project selection, project planning, project implementation, monitoring and evaluation and maintenance. The concept of community participation in each of the three case studies is examined. It is concluded that the definition of community participation in the three MASAF projects was very narrow and limited, takin on a passive and indirect nature. Consequently, the projects are found to fail to generate the benefits that are attributed to community participation in development initiatives while at the same time failing to empower the local community to take charge of decisions that contribute to their well-being and social advancement.

This short paper describes some lessons learnt during training workshops conducted for capacity building in participatory approaches (PA) at Ha Giang in Vietnam. Two further goals were identified in addition to capacity building. These were to learn ways of influencing the conventional 'top-down' planning, and to learn participatory methodology for community-based planning in areas of both low and high literacy. In areas of low literacy, tools were utilized such as symbols to represent issues in the community; pictorial plans with scoring/ranking according to priorities; picture cards; a literate villager acting as a scribe. Both literate and non-literate plans were presented at the commune level. The authors concluded with a number of limitations, including problems due to village size and the difficulties of accurately translating pictorial plans into official reports.